


On Dark Moons And In Sunrise

by Crabbyclaw (strawberrysoap)



Series: Hardly Remembering My Dreams [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Derse and Prospit, Eventual Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Humanstuck, M/M, Slow Build, Trans Character, Trans Dave Strider, Trans Karkat Vantas, With A Twist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-05-20 18:56:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6021187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrysoap/pseuds/Crabbyclaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat looked up at the orange and pink sky, it was actually quite beautiful if you thought about it. But it was turning brighter as he laid there with an aviator wearing eyesore. An eyesore he apparently can't scratch the mucus out of.</p><p>"Dave?"</p><p>"Yeah, what's up?"</p><p>"Do you think I'll just run into you one day, or even meet you when we go back?"</p><p>"I don't fucking know, Kat, maybe if you come up with some overzealous plan to try and get this ass ."</p><p>Karkat snorted and rolled onto his side to face Dave.<br/>______________________________</p><p>Karkat Vantas can't remember a thing when we wakes up from his dreams. It's either always garbled up junk, or nothing at all. And he always feels something empty when he wakes up, something important and dear to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Planes Of Annoyance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Last night I had this dream about you_   
>  _In this dream I'm dancing right beside you._
> 
>  
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> _But suddenly I feel the shining sun_  
>  _Before I know it, this dream is all gone._  
>  _Oh, I don't know what to do, about this dream and you._
> 
>  
> 
> [Digital Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOngRDVtEQI)

Karkat looked up at the orange and pink sky, it was actually quite beautiful if you thought about it. But it was turning brighter as he laid there with an aviator wearing eyesore. An eyesore he apparently can't get over.

"Dave?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Do you think I'll just run into you one day, or even meet you when we go back?"

"I don't fucking know, Kat, maybe if you come up with some overzealous plan to try and get this ass."

Karkat snorted and rolled onto his side to face Dave.

"Don't be a dick." Karkat said half-heartedly.

"I just wish...Dave this is infuriating! I just want to be able to have _some_ sort of recollection of you."

Dave sighed.

"Yeah I know, me too. But I don't think you'll want to see me there. I'm not really 'okay' with who I am on that plane."

Karkat huffed, "Like I'd really give a shit. Dave, I've known you for a year now, we're pretty good friends at this point."

Yeah, friends. He didn't like Dave anymore than he should. They were simply Best Bros, and Karkat didn't want anything else. Nope, we're leaving that ungodly train of thought alone before it explodes in it's puss filled glory.

Karkat continued, "Can't we leave some sort of convoluted instructions to meet each other, or somehow retain our memories from the Dream Plane? Ugh, that wouldn't fucking work. We'd have to clunk our heads together repeatedly for _that_ shitfest to happen. Not to mention _somehow_ being able to get the instructions to the other plane."

Dave just chuckled and looked at him.

"Might be worth a shot. Probably better than any ideas that I would have, which would probably include some trapeze performers and vodka. But why do you even want to see me so badly? _Ha, I'd think that_ -" Dave got cut off by Karkat's hand over his mouth, because he already knew what he'd say, which would of course embarrass the shit out of him.

 

 

But before Karkat could say anything to change Dave's course of thought, a slow band of white started to appear on the horizon.

Karkat sighed when he saw it, his time with Dave was up. He always hated the end of the so called dream sequence. It made his head pound and his brain scramble into fucking eggs. The dark haired boy glanced at Dave one last time.

"See you tomorrow?"

Then everything turned white again.

* * *

Karkat shot up out of his bed, like he usually did, everyday. He never really understood why he did that. But it's not like he ever remembered his dreams anyway. They obviously weren't important enough to do so, being a figment of his imagination and all. And yet, he always woke up with some empty feeling, like he was missing something important.

He just brushed the feeling off and got ready to go to work. Which mainly consisted of throwing on a sweater, because it's cold as balls, gray jeans and some generic knock off of Toms. Luckily for him, his work didn't have some ridiculous dress code.

Karkat walked out the door and started to head towards his work, it wasn't far away, so he just walked. Exercise never really hurt anyone, except when you do too much, because somehow people can actually reach that point of "enjoyment". The sun was still slowly rising, the sky was only a dim blue at this point. Karkat really enjoyed this time of the day, it was still peaceful and the sun didn't blaze out his eyeballs.

He eventually arrived at his destination, the building had plastered on a pink neon sign that said "Roxy's Proxy", because a cheesy name is apparently needed, and was painted a light beige. He worked for a woman named Roxy Lalonde, which you can partially tell from the sign, and  was actually pretty respectable. All he really did was just keep the computer store clean and tried not to talk to people. Because when that happened all hell broke loose.

He wasn't exactly a people person, but he knew how to talk to people when it came down to it, and THAT was a curse. He really blamed his dad, his father taught him some public speaking when he was younger, his father wanted him and his brother to be his proteges, but it didn't turn out like he had initially wanted. His father was a public speaker for equality, and had been in the military. But Karkat wasn't up for speaking at all to people and resented the military because of the pain it had caused his mother. Let's just say his relationship with his father is complicated and damaged.

Enough of that though, he has a job and he can't have old memories be brought up this early, he didn't need a headache. 

The dark-skinned boy went up to the front door and unlocked it. He always had to open shop. He never really seemed to mind though, he did like to have some time alone before his co-worker Sollux came in. He could be a pain in the ass, believe it or not, but was a decent "friend".

But he _did_ mind today, because he wasn't expecting someone to already be in there.

It took him a while to realize it, but there was an abnormal tuft of blonde hair in one of the isles. At first he thought it was some sort of intruder, so, startled he crouched down out of sight. He started to move slowly to the front desk to grab the phone. But he was stopped abruptly before he could. The blonde went in front of him, only to be revealed as his manager Roxy. 

"Jesus fucking Christ on a hot stick! Goddammit Roxy, you scared the shit out of me!"

Roxy laughed at Karkat's surprise,

"Aw fuck, sorry Karkat. I forgot to tell you I'd be coming in early. I had to fix some of the computers, they were really outdated and damn--"

"It's fine, I think I can recover from this near death experience." 

"Haha, thank god, I was bout to just turn into my little brother there for a second. You'd actually probably like him, he's really into making "sick beats" and actually is starting to go into the filming industry. He's coming by later if you wan to meet him."

"I think I'll pass." he said begrudgingly.

She smiled mischievously and waved her tan hand. 

"Well, I'll see you later then, right now, I have some shit to get done." 

Karkat watched her disappear into the backroom, and rolled his eyes playfully. He clocked in, not knowing that this would be a long shift. 

His day went by fairly quickly, not much really happened, there wasn't any annoying teenagers or kids fucking around with the equipment, so it was relaxing for once. Once his shift started to end, Sollux was getting off his shift too. Sollux spared Karkat a goodbye and was out the door. He said he had to do some shit with one of his girlfriends or something, Karkat wasn't really giving him any attention.

But just before Karkat could make it out the door, Roxy called him to the back of the store. Karkat groaned dramatically and walked over to her voice, standing in the doorway. 

"Hey uh Karkat? Can you please show this guy around? I'm sorry, I know it's the end of your shift, but I really trust you and I'm SUPER busy."

Karkat heard a voice and immediately looked up to see some guy with ridiculously blonde hair, adorned with fucking aviators, a red hoodie. Most things he hated, douchebags, that's a terrible first impression for him.

"Wow, that's how you're going to refer to you brother as? _'Some guy'_? Cold sister, cold."

When it finally stopped, Karkat already had a scowl deeper than the depths of hell on his face. 

Roxy just rolled her eyes.

"Karkat, this is my _baby_ brother Dave, I told you about him this morning, Dave, this is Karkat, my best employee. Now go, I have stuff to do."

Karkat started walking out before the guy, "Dave", could get another obnoxious word out. 

"Sooo, Roxy told you about me? Please don't tell me she said some sickeningly cute story about me as a baby, she's done that one too many times I tell you. I mean, we were just standing in line at the grocery store one day and she blurted out to some old lady about how when I was four I ran around ass naked to impress one of my friends. The lady just looked at me like I was some kind of fresh ass, which I am, and I knew what that old lady was thinkin. She sure as fuck wanted some of this ass, which is normal for one, but actually creepy imagine the age gap dude--"

"Holy shit! How long is this going to last? And how is that story "cute", babies running around naked is a living nightmare."

"Hey, I was a toddler."

Karkat didn't respond any further, he just wanted to get the job done.

Suddenly Karkat saw Terezi and Vriska walk in to start their shift, but promptly ignored them, he wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone else's incompetence. Those two together is subjecting him to an hour of earsplitting screaming.

"Wow _Karcrab,_ what's wrong with you, get reined back in before you could walk out?" Vriska said in a mocking tone. 

"Vriska, promptly shut the fuck up before I decide to shove my foot up your disgusting mouth."

"Ouch" Terezi laughed..

Dave snorted at their remarks, and was finally noticed by the two girls. 

Terezi perked up and sniffed the air.

"Oooh who's this? They "look" interesting. And like a total hottie. Terezi Pyrope, at your service."

She held out her had, despite Dave being more than five feet away. Dave strode up to her and introduced himself.

"Dave Strider, DJ extraordinaire, soon to be most famous shitposter."

Dave Strider? That's weird. 

"Dave Strider?! You mean the author of SBAHJ, because if you are, I have many-a-tips for you on how to make it ten times juicier and shittier. It's nice to finally "see" you in the flesh."

"Terezi, you're blind" Karkat said blandly. 

"That's the joke." 

"Anyway," Karkat said, "I have to show this douche wad around, for some reason-- wait why _do_ I have to show you around, you think you could've told me why the fuck you even came here in the first place, let alone not be an annoying dick swaddler for more than ten seconds?"

Dave gave Karkat a blank look, "Dunno, why don't you go ask your boss." 

Great, Karkat pissed him off, good job, he really knows how to do _that_ , all the time!

"Fuck you! I _had_ to do this, so why don't you just spare me the time and just tell me what you want! May it be weird exploding computers, or a hard drive to hide porn on, I don't care!"

"Jesus Christ, you know I could just leave," He started to turn towards the door, "I'll just have to tell Dirk I'm not getting those computer parts" Dave said quieter. 

"Wait, ugh, fine, sorry. Just, what are you looking for?"

Dave turned his head towards Karkat, "All I need is some parts to be able to run a computer, except, I don't know shit about computers."

The girls in the front started to clock in and begin their work, leaving the other two to look for the computer parts.

"Okay, they're over here." Karkat lead him to another isle.

The isle was filled with dozens of different computer parts, this store wasn't very organized, even if Karkat tried so hard. Customers just always left shit lying around like they own the building. This is one of the many reasons why he hates people.

"How the hell are we going to find anything in that giant ass mountain of parts. The only mountain of parts I want to be in is body parts, but not in a serial killer way, just in a way that I _know_ I'll get laid. Actually--"

Karkat cut him off before his horrible, horrible, mouth would say anything else that would make his brain cells evaporate into thin air. Which seems to be a new trend lately.

"Oh my god, please do not continue that painful, moronic train of thought. I swear, the universe is out to get me, oh please universe, strike me down, strike me now to end this terrible hell."

Dave clapped his hands together and rubbed them, and started to rummage through spare parts.

"Do you even know what you're looking for?" Karkat said dryly.

"Nope, I'm just going to dig through these until I find something that vaguely resembles a picture my bro sent me."

He continued to dig in the giant heap of electronics.

"Can you show it to me, or am I going to have to take a wild fucking guess?"

"Yeah, uh, hold on a sec."

Karkat waited for Dave to pull out his phone and show it to him. It took a few minutes of him waiting impatiently, but when he did, the part didn't look like anything Karkat recognized.

"Huh, that's weird, what part is  _that_?It just looks like someone decided to smash different parts together when they were bored."

Dave just shrugged, "Fuck if I know, I already said I don't know shit about computers."

"Who'd you say this was for again?"

"My brother Dirk. He's sick and can't get out of the house, so I had to grab it for him."

"I'll go check in the back, hold on."

Karkat hurried over to the back, there was no time to lose, he wanted to just lay down in his bed as soon as he got home.

He came back out disappointed, there wasn't anything even similar to the part he had showed him.

"There isn't anything like that in stock. I could go ask Roxy--" For once it was Karkat who got cut off. 

"No way in hell you're doing that, unless you want a death wish. She can get brutal when she sucked up in her work. I'll just go check another store, thanks I guess."

He started to walk away before Terezi poked out her head from one of the isles. 

"Hey! Cool Kid, I found the part you were looking for!"

"What?! How?" Karkat said, surprised. 

"Why, a girl never reveals her secrets Mr. Cherry Pop."

"Whoa thanks, you really saved my ass." 

Dave looked at Karkat, "Sorry, guess the blind chick is better at needle in the haystack than you are."

Karkat bristled at his remark. This was actually embarrassing him, this day just couldn't get any worse could it?

"What the fuck ever. I have better things to do anyway."

Karkat stomped out the door to leave behind a chatting duo, that he was  _not_ affected by.

By the time he had gotten home he was calmer than when he had left, and was greeted by his roommate Kanaya and a delicious aroma of stew.

"Karkat, what's wrong? You seem stressed."

"Ugh, it's just work, Roxy apparently has this douche bag brother, and I had to try and help him find some complicated part for a computer. We couldn't even find it, but of course Terezi did."

Kanaya sat down on the couch and patted a spot for him to sit down, he reluctantly joined her.

"Hmm. I see. I wouldn't blame Terezi for this. It's just complicated buffoonery from everyone."

"I don't blame HER, I blame Strider."

"I take it that's his name. Why do you blame him and not Terezi?"

"Yeah. And I don't know, he just annoys me. I have to put the blame on someone, and honestly, I don't feel like being my own target today."

Kanaya sighed and shook her head.

"Karkat you can't blame him for not being able to find it, it was just an unfortunate turn of events."

"Yeah, Yeah, okay fine. But if I see that guy again, I swear my brain will explode."

Kanaya, deciding she was satisfied got up from her spot on the couch, and went in the kitchen to continue cooking.

Karkat on the other hand decided to take a well deserved nap on the couch until dinner was ready.

He didn't know that he'd be going somewhere completely different than usual. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So me being the idiot I am, I'm starting another fic. This one was inspired by Digital Love, which was on complete accident and I just couldn't resist the urge to make something out of the idea. Go check out my [Tumblr](http://crabbyclaw.tumblr.com/) for more Davekat stuff, including my art and possibly more AUs. You can also ask questions on there about the AU if you want.


	2. Dreamless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, i don't know what to do, about this dream and you
> 
> I wish the dream comes true...

Well that was sure an interesting visit to Roxy's store, Dave thought. Dave wasn't really sure why she couldn't have just brought it home for Dirk like any logical person would do. Oh well, he had the part he needed for his brother. 

He approached his apartment building he lived in with his two sister's Roxy, and Rose. Then of course Dirk. It wasn't actually that cramped with the four of them, or maybe it was, he couldn't tell anymore since he lived there for so long. 

Unfortunately for Dave though, he had to walk up the 10 flights of stairs to get to his apartment. The elevator was broken for months now, and nobody was getting around to fixing it. 

When he entered his apartment, he saw that Rose was sitting on the couch. She was knitting something for herself, he didn't know what the fuck it was supposed to be. 

"Hey Rose. What the fuck is that supposed to be?"

Rose looked up from her work, and smiled at Dave. 

"What, you can't tell? Certainly you can tell it's supposed to be a scarf, Dave."

"Clearly I can't Rose. That's why I asked if it was supposed to be a scarf."

"You have no taste."

"Man, I have great taste." 

Dave scoffed and left the room, he went into the room he and Dirk shared. 

He couldn't really call this his room, he had to share it with Dirk, while Roxy and Rose shared a room together. They couldn't afford anything bigger than this. Roxy was the only person with a steady income, while Dirk had worked in the shop with her helping with repairing computers. He and Rose didn't have jobs yet. 

"Yet", Dave snorted at his own thought. 

Dirk didn't acknowledge Dave entering the room, presumably sleeping because of his cold, the poor bastard was pretty sick. 

He grabbed his laptop and decided to draw a few of his comics, of his hit series  _Sweet Jeff and Hella Bro,_ somehow this comic series hit it off and got extremely popular. His ironic sense of humor was very top notch, he thought. Hell, he even met a fan today. 

He drew for a few hours then stopped, having a very productive comic making session. He decided to take a well deserved nap. He closed his eyes and dozed off into a dream. 

* * *

Dave opened his eyes. 

He was standing in a field near the kingdom of Derse. 

This is where he usually was when he woke up, around Derse, but he was usually in his room. This was a little strange, but Dave brushed it off. Dave started to walk towards the kingdom of Prospit, though.

He wanted to look for Karkat, in fact, he needed to. Dave could barely believe it himself, but he actually met him. 

 _He met Karkat._  

He's been waiting for this moment for years, he and Karkat were close, and maybe, just maybe, he could be with him when he was awake too. Although he didn't seem to like him very much, much like how they first met here. But if he knew Kat, then it wouldn't take very long for him to warm up to him. 

Dave started to run for Prospit at this point, he couldn't wait to see Karkat again. 

After running for a solid 15 minutes, he finally reached Prospit. 

He went up to where Karkat lived, and knocked on his door.

There was no answer. It wasn't the strangest thing in the world, considering the time of the day. He might've not been sleeping the same time Dave was. He was taking a nap after all.

Dave was a little disappointed, he was really looking forward to seeing him. Although, he still did have tonight to visit him, so it wasn't a huge deal to him. 

Dave was about to leave the building, when he heard a noise from inside Karkat's room. 

Dave pressed his ear to the door, and heard a pained grunt. 

_Was something wrong? Is Karkat okay?_

Dave tried to open the door to his room, but it was locked.

He kept jiggling the knob, "Karkat? Hey, buddy, are you alright in there?"

There was no answer. 

Dave decided to go outside, and float around Karkat's room, he saw the window was open, 

He descended into Karkat's room and-

Dave woke up.

* * *

Rose was shaking Dave awake, Dave opened his eyes and glared at Rose.

"Rose, I hope you know I was just having a great dream, and you just left me on a cliffhanger. What do you want?"

"Oh? Really, were you "having fun" in this dream, Dave?"

"Yes Rose that's exactly what I was dreaming about, how could you guess? What do you want,"

"Yes, I need you for something detrimental to my knitting project."

"Oh my god Rose, _that's_ what you woke me up for? I could've been dreaming about anything in the world, flying off to distant lands and whatnot, yet you woke me up out of what could've presumably been some kind of wet dream, what's so important to your knitting that you had to wake me up out of this wonderful yet mysterious dreamscape?"

"Dave, please, it's very important. I need you to hold the piece of fabric, it's simply getting too tangled."

"Fine man, I'll only do it since you already woke me up, but you owe me like 100 bottles of AJ now."

"Alright, if that's what it takes to get you to assist me."

"What's so important about this specific project anyway? Is it some kind of present for your girlfriend or what,"

Rose only looked away and didn't answer Dave's question. 

"Okay so that was a joke but it looks like I just hit the fucking jackpot."

Dave and Rose walked out into the living room, where they spent the next 2 hours sitting there and knitting. 

By the time he and Rose had gotten done, it was about 5 pm, meaning it was dinner time, and Dave was hungry as fuck. 

"Hey Rose, the fuck are we going to eat? Dirk is too sick to do shit, and Roxy isn't home yet."

"Hm, well, you could go to that deli across the street from us? Where John works."

"Oh, yeah, I could use some John Time."

"Phrasing, Dave."

Dave rolled his eyes and got up from the couch, stretching out his legs in the process. Who knew that sitting for 2 hours straight holding a piece of fabric could make your muscles sore. 

He grabbed his coat and keys, and headed out the door. Luckily, it _was_ only across the street. 

He approached the Deli shop, it wasn't anything extravagant, but honestly what building can exceed more than just a solid colored wall. It had a little sign on the front saying "OPEN", so Dave walked in. 

He was greeted by a voice, "Hello, how can I- Oh, hey Dave!"

"What's up John, hows the deli treating you, I'm assuming terribly because it's a job and all."

"Actually, I'd say pretty good. I didn't get terrible customers today, for once." John chuckled. "So what do you want to stuff in your face tonight?"

"Hm, why don't you surprise me, except not a bad surprise because I need something for Rose too, and she'll kill both of us if you pull a prank okay."

"No promises Dave!!"

Dave only rolled his eyes and waited for John to make their sandwiches. While he was waiting, a couple other people walked in, a couple of people he didn't expect to see. 

"Oh, look who it is, Terezi, it's that one guy you were drooling over this morning. Would you like to give this kid a good lick now?" Her voice was filled with venom. 

Terezi, the fan from earlier, walked up to Dave, and tried to high five him, missing completely. 

Dave didn't know how to react to that, so he ignored it. "What's up."

"Everything is up, Dave, the ceiling, the sun, even we, are up. I'm doing just fine though."

Dave didn't know if this was charming, or just weird, "Well, you got me there. You come here often?"

"Oh yes, I come by the deli often, John and I are like this," She twisted her fingers together. 

John shouted from the back, "WE ARE NOT! Terezi, stop spreading lies."

"He loves me." Terezi winked. "Anyway, Dave, what's your number?"

"Uh, I mean I guess I could give it to you, but I actually go on Pesterchum more, so, if you're ok with that I can give it to you."

"Of course it's fine, I spend plenty of time on there, and if it means I can talk to a cool kid like you, then what's the problem." 

"It's turntechGodhead- Wait, how can you even message me? You can't, you know, see."

"A girl never reveals her secrets,"

The other girl chimed in, "She uses a voice to text program."

"Well, there goes the girls secret.", Dave said. 

John came out from the back, "Dave, your food is done, now get out of here before you cause a traffic jam talking to Terezi."

"Yeah, it's about time I head out, so, nice meeting you Terezi." 

"You too Dave, you'll be seeing some messages from me real soon."

Dave waved awkwardly and left the deli. 

* * *

Karkat felt like he was floating, and it was somewhat relaxing for him. He was just weightless, and as far as he knew, he didn't have anything to worry about. But after a few minutes, he decided it was time to open his eyes. 

But when he did, he didn't expect to see absolutely jack shit. It didn't take him very long to figure out that something was wrong.

_What the fuck? Where was he? Where's Prospit?_

Both kingdoms were nowhere in sight, and all he could see was a black sheet of nothing. Karkat started to move his hands around frantically, trying to grip onto something, anything, to help him find solid ground. He was unsuccessful. 

All Karkat could think about in those moments were his about friends. The friends he had made in this realm. They had to be in danger, everyone had to be. This was far from  right, and considering there was nothing, they might be in the same position he was in. 

A couple of minutes had passed before Karkat could feel panic rising in his chest. There was nothing Karkat could do, he was stuck in the dark, helpless. He clawed at the air, still searching frantically in the air. 

Karkat was terrified to see that a pair of white eyes were beside him, after he saw it, more and more eyes showed up from the depths. At this point Karkat didn't know what to think, he was frozen with fear. Karkat closed his eyes tight when he felt something warm and slimy crawl up his leg. 

Karkat woke up. 

 _What the fuck._  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry holy shit. It's literally been a year, but I finally got some motivation to finish this, it would probably help if i made more solid chapter plots too. I'll get on to doing that. *Thanks to the commenter! i almost forgot that I like writing!* This was mostly a foundation chapter though, so hopefully it'll get more interesting in the next.


	3. Chapter 3

Karkat could tell you one thing about that dream, and he could say that that was  _not fucking normal._

Karkat looked up and saw Kanaya standing above him, which, after a dream like that, was fucking terrifying. 

"Karkat, are you okay? You seemed like you were having a bad dream."

"Yeah, I'm fine, other than you scaring the everloving shit out of me"

"Sorry, I was a bit concerned, you sounded like you were trying to scream."

"I... don't even know what was going on. It was like something was trying to grab me, there was nothing I could do to stop that thing." Karkat felt a shiver go down his spine. 

"Well, I do hope a decent meal gets your mind off of things." Kanaya gestured towards the kitchen, what she made had smelled good. 

Karkat got up and walked to the kitchen, it was modest, and was good enough for the two of them. Kanaya had been his roommate for a few years now, and although he could be perfectly dependent on himself, having her around was relieving. 

Kanaya handed Karkat a bowl and ladled some of the stew in, and then got a bowl for herself. They sat down at the table and enjoyed their meal together, Karkat letting the dream fade away into the void.

* * *

It had been a couple days since Dave had the weird dream. and as hard as Dave thought about it, he still turned up with nothing, just the feeling of... disappointment? That's too bad, but there wasn't much he could really do about the situation. 

Today Roxy was having some party for her employees, because they finally reached their 3 year anniversary or something. It was being held at the store, thank god, Dave didn't think they could fit more than 2 people in their apartment, even though 4 people lived there. Dave, Rose and Dirk had been invited, of course, Dirk got over his cold so he could finally go out again. The four siblings got into the car and headed out to the store, they'd have to get there a little earlier to set everything up, including the wonderful streamers on the walls. 

They arrived at the store and began setting up the party, setting out bowls for chips. Dave got a special bowl for the Doritos, the biggest one. The cheesy beautiful goodness that's a Dorito chip was his favorite. They might give bad breath, but that's what a toothbrush's for. 

Once they were done, about a half hour later, a few guests started showing up. One of the first guests were Terezi and Vriska, of course. Terezi greeted Roxy and then immediately went to Dave. 

"So, how's it going cool kid?"

"It's been good, I produced a few comics over the past couple days, I'm sure you noticed."

"Actually, I haven't exactly seen any. I usually get Vriska to read them to me, but she's been.. kinda mad at me the past few days."

"Oh, well uh, sorry dude."

"It's fine," she shrugged off, "She'll get over it."

"If you say so." 

Terezi and Vriska seemed pretty close, and as far as Dave could tell, they were glued by the hip. It was strange that they were fighting. Karkat had come in after that, along with Sollux, Karkat had looked pretty grumpy. Although that wasn't really much a deviation from normal. 

He looked at Dave, mostly with dislike, but the look had a somewhat defeated tone to it. Wonder what that's about. 

Dave just stood next to Dirk he didn't really feel like socializing with anyone at the party, these may have been Roxy's employees, but that doesn't mean he knew them as well as her. Dave stood around observing the party. It wasn't exactly even a party, there were just a few snack bowls and some cheap decorations from the dollar store. They honestly couldn't really afford much anyway. Dave looked down at Dirk, he was at least a foot taller than Dirk, and that's just by guessing. Dirk stood at 5' 5', Dave knows he got most of his genes from his moms side of the family. He considers himself lucky sometimes. 

"Hey Dirk, why'd Roxy say we can't DJ again?"

"She said it was a business party, no DJs for this party, Dave."

"Man, it's lame. It could really use some jams. Everyone could be rockin this shop, but instead they'll all be standing around sad like they're stuck with an office job. Buying fucking donuts for everyone and sipping on a nice hot cup of joe. Talking about how Sharon just got a raise and you didn't. Fuck Sharon."

"It's not like we have the equipment anyway, if you really want it so bad go talk to Rox."

Dave looked at Dirk, "You know, that's not a bad idea."

Dave strolled over to Roxy, who was speaking to Karkat about something Karkat was in the middle of yelling when he spoke, "Hey Roxy, I know you said no DJs before, BUT is this really a party? Look at those sad faces, look at my sad face."

"Dave, I already told you, I don't want it to get too wild here. I mean unless you play like radio music or something. Oh! or-"

Karkat cut off Roxy, "I will not tolerate radio music, no way" 

"So what kind of music do you listen to then?" Dave raised an eyebrow.

"Frankly, I don't see how it matters, Roxy isn't going to let you DJ."

"Actually, as long as Dave vows to play appropriately paced music, I'm totally fine with him doing it."

"Nice, although it would've been nicer if we had this conversation earlier, because now i have to go back to the house. By myself. And you know that equipment isn't light.", Dave sighed. 

Roxy looked at Karkat, "Well if Karkat would be willing to help you,"

"Oh god, Roxy, why are you dragging me into this? I'm literally 5' 4', do you think I'm able to heavy lift?"

"It's really not that bad, come on Karkat,"

Dave was already heading out the door as she said that,  "You can tell me what kind of music you like, maybe I'll play some, if it's appropriately paced of course." Dave glanced back at Roxy and Karkat. 

"Ugh, fine, I'm coming, but I'm doing this for Roxy, so Roxy, you owe me one."

"Whatever you say Karkat."

Roxy waved at the two as they left the store. Dave got into the car, Karkat following him. They sat there for a few minutes in silence. 

"Are you going to say anything? You usually don't shut up."

"You say usually like you know me."

"Well, from the 1.5 conversations I've had with you, you ramble all the time."

Dave shrugged, "I don't know man, I just ramble. That's like me asking why you always go on tangents and shit."

"Fair enough. Although I think it's safe to say your rambles have less of a point than my 'tangents' do. At least I get my point across." Karkat started out the window, his hair was pretty messy, and it was hard to see his face in the dark, not that Dave was really trying to see it. 

"So uh, what music do you like?"

"I like pop music, and don't you say shit about it, because it's great. 

 "Isn't that basically radio music?"

"No! Pop music is much more refined than whatever horseshit is on the radio. For example, rap gets on the radio, and its most of the time graced with misogynistic shit, not to say that pop can't do that, but honestly it just sounds fucking terrible."

"Wow Karkat I feel like you've just speared me in my heart, rap is THE SHIT, I mean its not exclusively about that stuff. You can rap about anything. See, I'm gonna give you an example."

Karkat gave Dave an enraged look, "Please don't, I don't need to hear any more of it than I do on the radio. I can, and will rip out my eardrums."

"Oh dang, we're already here anyway. I'll show you a little of my material when we get the equipment loaded."

Dave and Karkat walked up to the apartment building. Dave has always hated this place. Every time he walked up to it, it made him angrier.

"We live on the 10th floor," Dave glared at the building from under his shades, he now realized why he didn't fight so hard to do this, and why Roxy didn't bother bargaining. She didn't want to help. Smart. 

"Jesus Christ! You expect me to get that shit from the 10th floor!? I can hardly run a mile!"

"Chill dude, its fine."

"It is NOT fine. I can't do this. I'm leaving.", Karkat turned around to leave.

"And going where exactly?"

"Anywhere but here."

"Whatever man, good luck getting home."

Karkat swerved back towards the apartment building, his eyes burned into Dave, Dave knew he won. Karkat couldn't go anywhere without a ride, he presumably didn't know this neighborhood very well. Not that Dave would've actually left Karkat alone, the guy was a windbag but Dave wasn't heartless. 

Dave and Karkat walked up the stairs together, halfway through, Dave noticed that Karkat was running out of breath. 

"Hey are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Strider, as I had previously explained, I can't do jack when it comes to anything physical."

"You could hop on my back if you want."

"Fuck no! Why would i let you get your grubby hands on me."

"It was just an offer, besides I wasn't being serious anyway."

"Then why would you even offer?!"

Dave shrugged, he wasn't really sure why he even bothered offering. He knew Karkat would reject it, but he genuinely seemed like he was having trouble going up the stairs. He wouldn't want some guy that works for Roxy to sue them because he passed out while going up a flight of stairs to get equipment for a company party. That didn't sound too good for business. 

* * *

Karkat and Dave reached what Karkat assumed was their apartment. And god, he could tell you it looked worse for wear. For the amount of space it was, he really doubted that 4 people could fit in there. But magically, it had to be true. 

"Welcome to my humble abode. Sorry its a little messy, we haven't had any time to clean, and we didn't really expect a guest to arrive."

Dave walked into another room, Karkat followed. The room looked extremely small, and had two beds forced into the space. Dave strode over to a closet and pried it open, out spilled some clothes, and a jar that looked like it had a dead animal in it. He pulled out two black speakers, along with something that looked like a stand, but bigger, and a laptop. 

"Here." Dave handed Karkat a speaker, the weight of it made Karkat stumble a bit, but he got himself back on balance. 

"Whats the other thing?"

"Its called a laptop, you know generally people surf the internet on this. Can I say what they're looking for? No, and I don't think I really want to. Don't make me have the talk with you Karkat, I don't think you're ready for that yet."

"No, not that you asshole, the stand thingy that a _normal_ person wouldn't know about."

"Oh, this baby is my mixer. A lot of lovemaking comes from this, the lovemaking between music and people."

"That sounds disgusting."

"Oh no Karkat, it's the most beautiful thing that can exist on this planet. I could give it a little test on you, show you what this is all about."

Karkat furrowed his eyebrows. Did this guy know how to say anything that didn't sound weird, "That's probably the worst way you could've phrased that, besides Isn't that just going to waste time?" 

"I don't see the rush," Dave leaned against the wall, "Plus I have to make sure it works anyway."

Without waiting for Karkats approval, Dave started setting up the equipment, connecting what seemed like the endless amount or wires to various things. He took the speaker from Karkat and propped up everything, and set down his laptop. It all seemed complicated, Karkat wasn't sure how Dave managed to navigate everything so well. He must've had a long time to practice all of this. 

Dave was looking down at his laptop, "Give me a request." 

"How about Mariah Carey."

Dave raised an eyebrow, "Let's see what we have here... Oh, fuck yes."

Karkat waited for the song to come on. Emotions started playing. 

"Strider, I hope you know you're putting poor Mariah to shame right now."

"I don't know what you're talking about, this is the ultimate Mariah Carey song. Damn, how does she do it."

Dave continued to let the song play while Karkat stared at him. He was hoping if he stared at him long enough, then Dave would change it. Not that Karkat could really stare at him, he couldn't see under those stupid shades he kept glued to his face. That's one of the reasons he thought he was a complete douche, he never let anything slip out. It was honestly tiring trying to figure out what he was feeling, even if he didn't know him all that well. After a while Karkat realized it wasn't going to work, and threw his hands up in  defeat. 

"Fine! I give up trying to get a better, more reasonable song on."

Once Mariah had hit that high note, more than one time, Dave turned it off. 

"God, you could've gone with a better choice. I cannot believe that song exists. I also can't believe people would turn that into a meme. I mean, I get it! What I really don't get is how she hit that fucking note?? Does she deal with the devil? People sure love to think that."

"I think you might be listening to way too many conspiracy podcasts. What's next, Beyonce is a part of the illuminati? Actually, I can believe that."

"Whatever, asshole, I wasn't saying she was, it was just a reason people use to try to dismiss her beautiful talent that is singing,"

Another song queued up, this time Touch my Body came on. 

"Holy shit Strider, why'd you have to pick this one."

"Quick answer, I didn't. But this song isn't bad anyway." 

"That's highly debatable, I mean, what about the more romantic songs, the ones with substance, heartache, old loves??"

Karkat actually loved this song. He rolled his eyes at himself and crossed his arms. He couldn't help himself. He wanted to hum this song. 

_Touch my body, put me on the floor, wrestle me around, play with me some more_

"I think it's time to go," Dave quickly stood up as he said that, and started putting everything away. 

"Uh, yeah."

Karkat picked up the speaker, this time expecting the weight. He wondered why he was so quick to get out. He must've realized the time, it was starting to get late.

Dave was holding most of the stuff, Karkat started to even wonder why he came at all. 

"Hey, I can hold something else you know."

"No, I got it."

Karkat was irritated with his answer, why couldn't he just let him carry another thing? It's not that big of a deal, even if he tried to get out of helping the the first place, he might as well try now that he's stuck with this guy. 

Karkat glared at Dave. He must've known about him, who was he kidding, he couldn't be treated like any normal person ever. He looked at the ground and stayed silent for the rest of the trek back to the store. 

* * *

Dave was in the middle of setting everything up when he saw Karkat staring at him from across the room. Weird, he didn't say anything to him on the ride back over. He was really starting to wonder what his problem was. Just as Dave was even playing with the idea of trying to talk to him, Terezi came up to Dave. 

"How are you enjoying the party, I find that it is rather fun. I thought about spiking the punch, but I'd rather not get fired from my only source of income."

"Yeah that was a good decision on your part, don't pull shit like that. You could make someone sick." Terezi had a confused look on her face, but didn't press for any information, "Anyway, I haven't really had time to enjoy it, I spent most of it with Karkat at my house,"

"Oh really?", Terezi grinned, "And what exactly were you two doing at your house?"

"I'm going to ignore what you're implying and tell you that I'm super straight. I don't like boys. Sorry, this guy likes girls and girls only. I would not like to board the dick train to penis town. No thanks."

"I was only joking, but judging from that entire sentence, it sounds like you're trying too hard to convince me. I'll never understand you weird people."

"Weird people? The fuck does that mean?"

"It means straight people try too hard to convince other people they're straight." Terezi waved at Dave, "Anyway, I'll see you later, coolkid."

What. 

Well he didn't expect her to, to put it in better terms, not be straight, but of course he wasn't going to judge. He already had his own pile of problems. At least he could be open to the idea of trusting her. It's not like everyone knew he was trans. Not that it was anyone's business really, but it would be nice to know if certain people didn't hate you for existing. Anyway, he wasn't gay. Who cares if sitting there listening to Touch my Body was awkward, it would've been awkward for anyone. 

Dave finished setting up, and played some cool tunes for the remainder of the night. 

* * *

\-- gallowsCalibrator [GC] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] --

GC: H3LLO D4V3.

TG: alright whos this and how and why are you typing like that

GC: ITS T3R3Z1 WHO 3LS3 WOULD 1T B3?

GC: ALSO MY PROGR4M 1S GR34TLY FUCK3D UP. 1T L1K3S TO M3SS UP MY T3XTS FOR SOM3 R34SON. 

TG: huh ok then

TG: whats up terezi

GC: 1 W4S WOND3R1NG 1F YOU W4NT3D TO GO OUT ON A ROND3VOUZ W1TH VR1SK4 K4RK4T AND 1

TG: i dunno tz karkat doesnt seem to like me very much

GC: WHO C4R3S 1F H3 DO3S OR NOT, 1 L1K3 YOU >:] 

GC: B3S1D3S, H3'LL W4RM UP TO YOU 3V3NTU4LLY. 

GC: 4CTU4LLY, 1 SHOULD G1V3 YOU H1S H4NDL3

GC: 1TS C4RC1NOG3N3T1C1ST, W1THOUT TH3 D3F3CT1V3 L3TT3RS

TG: alright i guess i can try to talk to him but no guarantees hell even answer me

TG: he completely ignored me after we got back to the store the other night its like i did something but im pretty sure i didnt

GC: 31TH3R W4Y, B3 SUR3 TO T3LL M3 HOW 1T GO3S >;]

TG: ill be sure to tell you all the juicy secrets hes going to most definitely tell me

\-- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering gallowsCalibrator [GC] --

 

\-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] --

TG: hey 

CG: WHO IS THIS??

TG: dave 

TG: am i not memorable

TG: doubt it 

TG: i think im easy to remember since im so damn cool

CG: OH YEAH, COOL IS THE WORD TO DESCRIBE YOU. 

CG: ACTUALLY, WAIT, I KNOW THE PERFECT WORD FOR YOU!

CG: IT'S INSUFFERABLE PRICK. 

TG: thats two words

CG: SHUT UP. 

TG: why do you type in caps anyway

CG: I THINK THAT'S SOMETHING YOU SHOULDN'T BE CONCERNING YOURSELF WITH. 

CG: YOU KNOW, I'M A VERY BUSY MAN. I HAVE THINGS TO DO.

CG: AND YET, HERE I AM WASTING MY TIME TALKING TO YOU. WHAT DO YOU WANT, STRIDER?

TG: well i was forced to talk to you by terezi

CG: OH, ISN'T THAT A FUCKING CLASSIC. ME TOO. ALTHOUGH THAT'S UNSURPRISING SINCE SHE WAS SO INSISTENT. WHAT'S HER DEAL ANYWAY? 

TG: i dunno man 

TG: sometimes she even sends me these drawings of me not sure how she got it so fucking spot on

TG: its like she just knows things she must be psychic or something but i guess well never know

CG: WHATEVER, STRIDER. THAT'S STILL NOT A GOOD ENOUGH EXCUSE TO BE TALKING TO ME.

TG: whoa dude whats your problem

TG: did someone shove a whole tree up your asshole or what because the usual stick seems to have grown 10x its natural size

CG: IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO INSULT ME, THEN I THINK THIS CONVERSATION IS OVER. BYE ASSHOLE. 

\-- carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] --

TG: alright later windbag

TG: oh wait shit i forgot to even mention that terezi invited me to go out with you guys

TG: i guess youll find out soon enough

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead yet guys. I was listening to a lot of Mariah Carey. Also I completely cringe at the first chapter. I hate it. But I need to continue on.


End file.
